The invention relates to a means for heating a building or for heating hot water for the building comprising in part a means adapted to use the heat from an open wood-burning fireplace. In the past, it has been generally known to use the heat from a fireplace to heat water passed around the open fire -- such as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 219,978, 1,352,371, 1,432,538, and 2,113,896 -- however, none of these systems has been useful as an auxiliary in homes with conventional heating or hot-water heating systems, nor have any of these devices provided as great an area for heat transfer as the device of the present invention.
With depletion of our natural resources of oil and natural gas, and with increasingly higher electricity prices it is becoming more and more practical to use wood burned in an open fire as a heat source. In addition to having the potential of meeting a large portion of a home's heating requirements, open wood-burning fireplaces are decorative and often serve as a focal point for family activities. However, it is usually impractical to assume, as have many prior art devices, that wood burned in an open fireplace can provide all the heating or hot-water heating requirements of a home since a fire must be constantly attended to and since large quantities of wood are impractical to store in most homes and locations. However, according to the teachings of the present invention, such a fireplace if hooked up with the conventional heating or hot-water heating systems of a home can supply a good deal of auxiliary heat, and can thereby save on utility bills and difficult to obtain natural resources while providing aesthetic appeal as well.
According to the present invention, a metal water jacket having spaced top, back, bottom, and side walls forming water chambers therebetween and together defining a wood-burning fireplace is provided. A grate adapted to support wood for a fire is disposed within the fireplace, said grate having hollow interior portions thereof that are in water-communication with the water chambers on the bottom and back of the fireplace. All of the water chambers are in free water-communication with each other. Water coming in through an inlet is circulated through the jacket and absorbs heat from the fire burning within the fireplace, and then the hot water by convection passes out a water outlet. The bottom of the jacket has an opening formed therein in order to provide combustion air to the fire and increase the heating capability thereof, while additionally reducing materials expense, without interfering with water circulation through the jacket.
The metal water jacket inlets and outlets are connected up with the conventional pipes of the heating or hot-water heating system of a building, a conventional pump circulating water from the fireplace through the radiators and water storage tank, and interconnecting pipes thereof. A means is provided responsive to the temperature within the hot water storage tank for cutting off the fuel supply (or other means essential to heating of the water by conventional means) when the temperature of water in the tank reaches a certain level due to heating thereof by the fireplace. In addition, means may be provided for cutting out the fireplace from the water circulating system when it is not desired to use the fireplace, or else the fireplace may be left in the system to act as a radiator. The fireplace may be hooked up with solar heating systems, gas-burning ones, fuel oil ones, or electric heating systems, and means may be provided for modifying the system to provide forced air heating instead of water heating.